CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

Columbia

"Mum," I began as we walk around the streets of the town. It was dark out so the only light we got was from the street lights. "About what grandpa said at dinner."

She shook her head at my words as I adjusted the dark wool scarf around my neck. "Don't listen to him," she tells me with a frown. "He's the same man who told me I wasn't good enough when I was a kid. I was dumb enough to think he'd changed."

My mum and grandfather always had a rocky relationship. It probably came from him expecting a son and getting my mother instead. In return he always pushed her to be the best version she could be. But in her eyes she saw it as him telling her she was never good enough.

"But he's right," I say as I kick some stones across the pavement as I walk beside my mother.

My mum whips her head to look at me, her dark hair falling out of the bun she'd put her hair into. "Don't you dare listen to what he said," she looks into my eyes. "He's just bitter that you don't wanna go to school in the UK."

We both continue our walk in silence for a moment. The cool night breeze ruffling our hair up as we both try to pat it back down. There were a few people walking around the town, probably coming back from whatever thanksgiving dinner they had.

"I don't think I wanna go to Yale," I admitted to her nervously. I stop walking to see her reaction. She stops a few feet away from me with a confused look.

"You don't wanna go to Yale?" She repeats as I nod my head slowly. "If this is because of what your grandfather said-"

"It's not," I cut her off quickly. "I just don't think it's the right place for me."

"But it's all we've wanted for so long, you've been talking about this since you were a kid." She tells me, trying to comprehend the meaning of my words. "Why?"

I rub the back of my arm as I shift my weight between my two feet. "I just think that, with the course I'm gonna take, Yale wouldn't be such a good idea."

"But it's Yale, they have everything." She says with pursed lips. "What is it that they don't have?"

"I mean, it's not like New York." I explain with a grimace. There was two ways that she could take this. Either she can maintain her cool or she could flip the hell out.

"New York?" She repeats as she cocked her head to the side. "You wanna go to school in New York?"

"I was just thinking that if I wanna pursue a career in law, then New York would be the best place," I explained with a cautious glance her way. "Plus, if I'm planning to live there it'd be great if I go to school there too. It'd help a lot."

I chewed on my lip as I waited for her to say something. "Is it because of Jess?" She asked me warily.

I'll admit that I did put him down as a small factor in my change of heart. I knew for a fact that the moment he could, Jess would go as far away from here as he could. Honestly, I didn't blame him. But even if he wasn't there, I would still think going to school in New York would be the best choice for me.

"It's not just him," I tell her truthfully. "Even if we broke up or something I would still want to go there."

She raised an eyebrow at me unconvinced. "That's the truth?" She questioned.

"That's the truth," I confirm.

"But it's so far away," she sighs out sadly. "And Yale is an Ivy League school," she tried to reason with me.

"So is Columbia," I reply with a small smile. "They have a really good law course there. And they'll have so many internships in New York, much more than New Haven that's for sure."

My mum didn't say anything for a while, just stared at a space behind me with a black expression. "Mum," I got her attention back. "Are you mad?" I asked nervously.

Walking over to me, she took my hand in hers with a kind smile. "I'm not mad," she says. "If it's what you want, then okay."

"Thank you," I thank as I pull her in for a tight hug. "You know, it's not definite yet. I might not even get into any of those schools."

"Oh hush," she says as she stroked the back of my head with her hand. "You'll get into all of them, I'm sure."

~~~

"So how do we feel ladies?" My mum asked as we slide into the empty chairs next to Lorelai and Rory the next day.

"We're quite alright actually," Lorelai said with a glance toward her daughter for confirmation.
Luke came and handed us our breakfast as we all said our choruses of thank you's.

As usual, he made some snide remark about how all the sugar in our breakfast could kill a large horse. And as usual we told him that he couldn't ever eat like us.

"Yeah," Rory began with a surprising look. "We didn't really eat at the grandparents cause of the big argument."

My mum nodded along to Rory's words. "Well, we had our fair share of that didn't we?" She commented with a look towards me.

"Oh, so you guys didn't eat either?" Lorelai asked as she downed her third cup of coffee.

"You couldn't be more wrong." My mum corrected as we both groaned, remembering how much we had to eat last night.

I rested my head on my hands as my elbows lay flat on the table. "I ate so much I feel like the guy from Seven." I referenced the movie.

"The one who dies from over eating?" Rory questioned with a frown.

I snap my fingers in her direction, "Bingo." Despite my words I continue to stuff my face with the waffles in the plate in front of me.